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2018 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

18. Open Government Data in an Age of Growing Hostility Towards Science

verfasst von : Bernadette Hyland-Wood

Erschienen in: Intellectual Property and Clean Energy

Verlag: Springer Singapore

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Abstract

Policy-making is inherently political, and bound up with different beliefs, values and viewpoints, as public policy scholars studying climate change policy know all too well. This is why there has, and always will be debate in policy-making circles about the relevance and reliability of particular sources of evidence (Wells, 2007). However, support for open government data to inform policy has generally been supported by the U.S. executive and legislative branches of government. President Reagan made Global Positioning System (GPS) data available for peaceful, civilian use in 1986. Earth observation data, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air quality and surface temperatures, is used by experts worldwide to address the growing demand for energy, food and water. The Trump administration (beginning January 2017), has broken with previously observed protocols, highlighting the fragility of open government data upon which science and policy experts depend. What is the impact of an ‘America First’ stance on open government data? Do federal agencies have the ability to protect and preserve environmental data as administrations transition? Does the President and Congress receive guidance on open government data policies and laws impacting the global transition to low-carbon development contemplated under the Paris Agreement?

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Fußnoten
1
Hyland-Wood et al. (2013).
 
2
Hearn (2003, p. 3).
 
3
Office of Science and Technology Policy (2014, 1).
 
4
Zurcher (2017).
 
5
Brady (2017a).
 
6
Tabuchi (2017).
 
7
Pachauri and Meyer (2014).
 
8
United Nations (2018).
 
9
Zhang et al. (2017, pp. 213–14).
 
10
United Nations (2016).
 
11
U.S. State Department (2017).
 
12
Figueres (2017).
 
13
Davenport (2017b).
 
14
Davenport (2017c).
 
15
U.S. Global Change Research Program (2017).
 
16
Trump (2012).
 
17
Brady (2017c).
 
18
Mooney and Eilperin (2017).
 
19
Paris et al. (2017).
 
20
Head (2010, pp. 77–94).
 
21
Sanderson (2002, pp. 1–22).
 
22
Mols (2012, pp. 329–45).
 
23
Dawes (2010, p. 377).
 
24
Benkler (1998, p. 3).
 
25
Sweden adopted access to information in 1766, followed by Finland in 1951, and the United States followed in 1966—Banisar (2006, p. 19).
 
26
Ibid, p. 7.
 
27
‘Origins of the Internet’ (2017).
 
28
Open Knowledge Foundation (2012), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2008), Pew Research Center (2015).
 
29
Obama (2009a)
 
30
CSIRO (2017).
 
31
NASA (2017).
 
32
Suber (2015).
 
33
Linking Open Data Cloud (2017). This diagram shows the majority linked open government data is science and observation related data. Linked Data leverages the concepts of the World Wide Web to describe the real world. Linked data uses web identifiers (Uniform Resource Identifier or URIs, often in the form of an http location to ‘link’ facts, concepts, people, places and phenomena.
 
34
Williams (1963).
 
35
Maury (1852).
 
36
Hearn (2003, p. 3).
 
37
AAAS (2017).
 
38
Hearn (2003).
 
39
Burrows (1986).
 
40
Ibid.
 
41
Burrows (1986, xiv).
 
42
Madry (2015, p. 7).
 
43
The Clinton White House (1996, p. 1).
 
44
Ibid.
 
45
Obama (2017a).
 
46
Science News (2017).
 
47
National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (2014).
 
48
Ibid.
 
49
Pew Research Center (2018).
 
50
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2017).
 
51
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2018, p. 1).
 
52
Mooney and Brady (2018).
 
53
European Commission (2016).
 
54
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (2017).
 
55
Creative Commons, https://​creativecommons.​org/​, accessed 3 January 2018.
 
56
Tauberer (2013) (Copyright Act of 1976 (US)) Copyright protection is not available for works of the United States Government under 17 USC § 105 unless a specific exemption applies. The U.S. copyright law states ‘a work prepared by an officer or employee as part of that person’s official duties’, under section 105 of the Copyright Act, is not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and is therefore in the public domain.
 
57
United States Government (2017).
 
59
Elkin-Koren (2006).
 
60
Creative Commons (2017).
 
61
In contrast to sharing human readable documents which was the majority of the content on the Web up until this period, circa 2007.
 
62
W3C (2008).
 
63
W3C (2013).
 
64
Wood (2012, vii).
 
65
Open Geospatial Consortium (2017), (‘Spatial Data on the Web Best Practices’ 2017).
 
66
W3C (2008, 2014a, b).
 
67
Office of Science and Technology Policy (2014).
 
68
Obama (2017b).
 
69
The OPEN Government Data Act (S. 760/H.R. 1770. On September 27, 2017, this bill was voted out of the Senate as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is now in the process of being conferenced with the House version of the legislation. Passage of a compromise NDAA was expected to place in November/December 2017.
 
70
Jennifer LaFluer defining desired data from the U.S. Government, March 18, 2011.
 
71
Piotrowski and Van Ryzin (2005, p. 17).
 
72
Ibid.
 
73
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (2009).
 
74
Obama (2009b).
 
75
The Obama White House (2015).
 
76
Zillow Group runs an U.S.-centric online real estate data service https://​zillow.​com.
 
77
Center for Data Innovation (2017). Industry Letter of Support for OPEN Government Data Act, 86 businesses, industry groups, civil society organizations, and transparency advocates, write to express strong support for the bipartisan Open, Permanent, Electronic, and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act (H.R. 1770).
 
78
Porter and Kramer (2011).
 
79
Burwell et al. (2013).
 
80
DATA Act, Public Law 113-101.
 
81
The Data Coalition, https://​www.​datacoalition.​org/​about/​, accessed 5 January 2018.
 
82
The Parliament of Australia (2017).
 
83
Biennial International Clean Air and Environment Conference, 15–18 Oct 2017, Brisbane Australia, accessed 15 December 2017. http://​casanz2017.​com/​.
 
84
Contemporaneous notes taken by the author who attended the CASANZ 2017 Conference, Brisbane Australia, Oct 2017.
 
85
Senator Schatz, Brian (D-HI) 2016, (S.2852).
 
86
Keiper (2004, p. 36).
 
87
Ibid, p. 40.
 
88
Ibid, p. 19. The irony of this action was that the OTA cut saved just $20 million in an overall total federal budget of $1.5 trillion.
 
89
Ibid, p. 41.
 
90
National Science, Engineering, and Technology Policy and Priorities Act of 1976 (US) The OSTP’s mission is defined by statute in the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976 (Pub. L. 94–282).
 
91
Jackson (2009).
 
92
Health Datapalooza (2016).
 
93
Honey (2016).
 
94
U.S. Federal Drug Administration (2017).
 
95
Beeler (2017), Davenport (2017a).
 
96
Guo et al. (2015, p. 108).
 
97
Trump (2012).
 
98
Hunt et al. (2017).
 
99
Rosenberg and Rest (2018, p. 7).
 
100
Hunt et al. (2017).
 
101
Mohammed (2017).
 
102
Climate Mayors (2017).
 
103
Ibid.
 
104
Meyer (2017), Tollefson (2017).
 
105
Eilperin (2017), Mooney and Eilperin (2017).
 
106
Davenport (2017c).
 
107
Paris et al. (2017), Tollefson (2017).
 
108
Sworn testimony by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on December 7th, 2017 in Washington D.C. https://​www.​c-span.​org/​video/​?​438060-1/​epa-administrator-testifies-house-energy-panel.
 
109
Oge (2017).
 
110
Plumer (2017).
 
111
Tollefson (2017).
 
112
Ibid.
 
113
DiChristopher (2017).
 
114
Cornwall (2017).
 
115
Brady (2017b).
 
116
EPA under Administrator Pruitt is overseeing revisions on global warming. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​globalwarming/​.
 
117
Nature Staff (2017).
 
118
Webb and Mitchell (2017).
 
119
Trump administration’s EPA website landing page for climate change indicators. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​climate-indicators.
 
120
Mooney and Eilperin (2017).
 
121
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992 (UNFCCC) Accessed 10-Jan 2018. http://​unfccc.​int/​2860.​php.
 
122
U.S. Environmental Agency 2017b. EPA’s Role in International Climate Adaption web page under Administrator Pruitt. Accessed 10-Jan 2018.
 
123
U.S. Environmental Agency 2017a. EPA’s International Cooperation web page. Accessed 10-Jan 2018.
 
124
Obama era EPA website climate change landing page detailing International Climate Partnerships. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. https://​19january2017sna​pshot.​epa.​gov/​climatechange/​international-climate-partnerships_​.​html.
 
125
Mohai et al. (2009), Paris et al. (2017, p. 38).
 
126
Mufson (2017), Cornwall (2017).
 
127
EDGI (2017).
 
128
EPA’s website redirects to a ‘holding page’ for climate change and climate impacts, see https://​www.​epa.​gov/​sites/​production/​files/​signpost/​cc.​html, accessed 5 January 2018.
 
129
U.S. Environmental Agency (2017d).
 
130
EPA snapshot dated January 19, 2017. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. https://​19january2017sna​pshot.​epa.​gov/​.
 
131
EOT Archive (2017), U.S. Environmental Agency (2017d).
 
132
Ross (2017).
 
133
Herrmann (2017).
 
134
Ibid.
 
135
Klinkenborg (2013).
 
136
Mandel (2015).
 
137
EPA Office of Air and Radiation. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​aboutepa/​about-office-air-and-radiation-oar. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
138
EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​aboutepa/​about-office-chemical-safety-and-pollution-prevention-ocspp. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
139
EPA Office of International and Tribal Affairs. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​aboutepa/​about-office-international-and-tribal-affairs-oita. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
140
EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​aboutepa/​about-office-land-and-emergency-management. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
141
EPA Office of Environmental Information. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​aboutepa/​about-office-environmental-information-oei. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
142
EPA linked open data web service with 30 years of pollution inventory data, over 100,00 toxic chemicals and 4 million EPA regulated facilities. https://​opendata.​epa.​gov. Accessed 5 January 2018.
 
143
EPA linked open data web service available on https://​opendata.​epa.​gov. Accessed 15 December 2017. The author was advised by an anonymous source with the EPA familiar with the open data service, that the Authority to Operate (ATO), an administrative authorization required for cloud-based applications, is set to expire in March 2018. If EPA senior management does not support the ATO update, it will be at risk of being shut down.
 
144
30th Anniversary of the Toxics Release Inventory Program. https://​www.​epa.​gov/​toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/​30th-anniversary-toxics-release-inventory-tri-program. Accessed 10 January 2018.
 
145
U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health PubMed open data. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
146
Hyland-Wood (2017).
 
147
Hyland-Wood (2017).
 
150
Hyland-Wood (2016), U.S. Environmental Agency (2017c).
 
151
Trump’s budget would hammer climate programs at EPA, NASA, NOAA, and Energy. https://​www.​vox.​com/​energy-and-environment/​2017/​3/​16/​14943826/​trump-budget-proposal-climate-change. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
152
Kang and Shear (2017).
 
153
Ibid.
 
154
Halpern (2017).
 
155
Rosenberg and Rest (2018).
 
156
Kang and Shear (2017).
 
157
How Donald Trump crippled U.S. technology and science policy, https://​www.​recode.​net/​2017/​3/​31/​15139966/​trump-white-house-technology-science-policy, accessed 5 January 2018.
 
158
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy landing page, https://​www.​whitehouse.​gov/​ostp/​, accessed 5 January 2018.
 
159
Office of Science and Technology Policy (2018).
 
160
Commission for Environmental Cooperation website. http://​www.​cec.​org/​. accessed 5 January 2018.
 
161
Administrative Procedure Act 1946 (US) The Act states in part, ‘Except to the extent that there is involved (1) any function of the United States requiring secrecy in the public interest or (2) any matter relating solely to the internal management of an agency… Every agency shall separately state and currently publish in the Federal Register… statements of the general course and method by which its functions are channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of all formal or informal procedures available as well as forms and instructions as to the scope and contents of all papers, reports, or examinations.’
 
162
Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (US) The Freedom of Information Act was intended ‘to clarify and protect the right of the public to information’ primarily upon request. Thus, agencies that collect data must generally make that data available to members of the public upon request. There is no provision in the law for that requirement to be affordable or convenient. Unfunded or underfunded challenges in complying with FOIA requests often lead agencies to choose between two paths: resist fulfilling such requests, or publish the data proactively to avoid FOIA requests.
 
164
44 U.S. Code § 3106.
 
165
Franklin v. Massachusetts 1992.
 
166
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 (44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2207) the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014 (44 U.S. Code § 2203, 2204, 2208, 2904 and 2906) mandated U.S. administrations to retain records related to their operations.
 
167
‘David Ferriero Biography’ 2017.
 
168
Internet Archive Wayback Machine. https://​web.​archive.​org/​. Accessed 15 December 2017.
 
169
EOT Archive (2017).
 
170
Jefferson (2017).
 
171
Data Refuge Project (2017), and Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities (2017).
 
172
Brady (2016).
 
173
The End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. Beginning in 2008, the End of Term Archive has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008 and 2012, and is currently working on for the End of Term 2016-17 archive. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. http://​eotarchive.​cdlib.​org/​2016.​html.
 
174
Data Refuge has created a site for federal data and supports climate and environmental research and advocacy. Accessed 10-Jan 2018. https://​www.​datarefuge.​org/​.
 
175
Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities (2017), Sunlight Foundation (2017).
 
176
Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, see https://​envirodatagov.​org/​about/​, accessed 7 January 2018.
 
177
Paris et al. (2017).
 
178
‘Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report’ (2015, p. 40).
 
179
World Meteorological Organization (2017).
 
180
Ibid.
 
181
Obregón (2017).
 
182
Ibid.
 
183
International Council for Science (ICSU) et al. (2015, 2).
 
184
Economic & Social Research Council Staff (2016, p. 1).
 
185
Mudde (2004, pp. 542–43).
 
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Metadaten
Titel
Open Government Data in an Age of Growing Hostility Towards Science
verfasst von
Bernadette Hyland-Wood
Copyright-Jahr
2018
Verlag
Springer Singapore
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2155-9_18